Susan's Place Transgender Resources

OK so having a pencil-neck is teh suxxors. And makes us look less male. Another area that's distinctive between male and female bodybuild is the traps, those muscles that go between the shoulders and sides of the neck.

Exercise can help and can do a trememous lot, short of going on T. Even after T, these are good areas to work on.

For the neck, my neck workout consists of lying on my back with my arms around so that my hands are between my lower back and the floor, so that I'm resting on them and my elbows to have my upper body at about 45 degrees. Then I simply move my head backwards, and then forwards, that's one "rep" or repetition. Try doing 10-25 to start, you are using the weight of your head to exercise your neck muscles, and at first you wil kick your butt! I do 50.

Then in the same position, keep your head straight but "nod" from side to side, I've heard firemen do this one. Don't overdo the rotation but try for a good range of motion, again this will kick your butt so try 10-25 reps to start. I do 50 immediately after the 50 of the earlier ones.

Then, I lay back on the floor, and do "bridges" using my feet and head as contact points. Normally, bridges are feet and shoulders as contact points. I do 20. DO NOT do these at first! You will probably hurt yourself! Instead, from a sitting or standing position, simply hold your hands interlaced on the back of your head and push backward with your neck, the idea is to exercise the muscles on the back of your neck.

I finish by doing 15 or 20 reps of putting my forehead on a weight bench, with my hands on there too so I can modulate the difficulty easily and not hurt myself, basically this is head-nods using the muscles on the front of my neck to support my body. These are ADVANCED you can do just fine with the first two exercises for YEARS.

All this, to end up with a slightly less pencil thin neck!

There are neck exercises done by wrestlers, martial artists, etc out there too. I think my routine is good but you can tailor something for your own needs.

I'm the only guy in my gym who exercises their neck! I figure if the added strength protects me in one accident etc it's worth all the work, and meanwhile I have a more manly neck!

Advanced bodybuilders also work their necks - I mean contest guys, the real serious guys, they work everything.

Now the traps. Those are thanfully, easy. Just pick up a weight or even a heavy suitcase ect and "shrug" it upward. You may be able to do anything from a few to 20 or more reps depending on the weight. Switch sides and do the other side. You should see results quickly, in that way it's much more rewarding then the neck work which you'll feel all right but it's hard work for little visual results over time.

The main thing with any training is consistancy. If you're not doing an exercise routine, then work these into your TV watching time, just before bed. something like that. If you always watch Spongebob Squarepants, and all the cool people do, then make that your exercise time. Or the morning news, or CSI, or when you listen to a certain show on the radio, etc.

Hopefully this helps out, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Well thanks, and nope I have no questions. It's pretty straightforward.

Thanks.

as you are the resident gym and exercise expert i'll be coming to you for tips when i figure out the joys of exercise

I have just started working out seriously for like the last month, and I have noticed a massive diff in muscle than before I gain it like crazy now! :)

Jay

lat pull downs are also good for this mussle group as well as the upright row about the best for the traps and single hardest exercise to accomplish correctly are good old fashion pull ups if your lucky and your gym has a weight assisted pull up machine use it the coverted V shape will not be far behind

Yes I'm doing pull ups both underhand and overhand wider grip. The V shape is coming along nicely.

On T the muscle growth will take off. it's great. It also made me go up in weight, I'm still 5'4" of course but 150 lbs and more solid than I was at 140.

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Post Merge: October 14, 2009, 03:15:44 AM

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Quote from: alex k on October 14, 2009, 02:42:22 AM
as you are the resident gym and exercise expert i'll be coming to you for tips when i figure out the joys of exercise

Wow I am NOT the resident gym and exercise expert, there are ex competitive bodybuilders and Olympic lifters on here.

And I won't discuss what I am an expert on here, I find it painful to discuss that subject with the ignorant, here or anywhere  ;D

I was being serious honest, I'm so fed up of going to the gym telling the instuctors that i want to gain muscle as in big muscle and being given exercises that tone you up rather than building anything cos obviously women don't want big muscles!!! No matter what i do my muscles insist on staying like sparrows kneecaps and i really hope it improves on T but i'd like to start now

women cant get big muscles w/o the aid of steroids your trainers are catering to the female fear of bulking up in short their not listening to your feedback t will be a big help if thats your goal is to build muscle mass
jessica AKA the gym rat

Quote from: jesse on October 14, 2009, 04:37:57 AM
women cant get big muscles w/o the aid of steroids your trainers are catering to the female fear of bulking up in short their not listening to your feedback t will be a big help if thats your goal is to build muscle mass
jessica AKA the gym rat

I can't tell if you're joking about the roid thing or not.

Generally speaking, I just work with teenage boy workouts, simply because I have the metabolism of one. Wish it wasn't so ridiculously fast, though, it's a pain trying to eat a lot. Feel like throwing up.

Does that mean that if i ever start T i might finally get the body shape I've been wanting for years? Don't mind working at it as long as i see some results instead of being the overweight 'female' that I'm now perceived as

Quote from: alex k on October 14, 2009, 07:48:53 AM
Does that mean that if i ever start T i might finally get the body shape I've been wanting for years? Don't mind working at it as long as i see some results instead of being the overweight 'female' that I'm now perceived as

In terms of muscle, yes. It'll be an easier feat than when you've got all that estrogen going. Testosterone might let you slim down a bit too, but don't let that stop you from losing it now.

Remember, if you want to build muscle, you can't expect to gain muscle and not fat. You're going to have to cut down on your fat sometime. I would do some light cardio(like long walks or bike rides, long slow work outs burn fat better) so that if you're looking to get all musclely, you don't have to worry about how much is fat and how much is muscle.

Jessica knows her stuff.

T is a steroid, we're just going to the level of normal guys not the excessive levels the bodybuilders use. For instance I'm on 100mg of T a week, the bb's will take that a DAY.

Just look at workouts for teenage boys or recommended for men in general. I learn a lot watching the guys in my gym too.

I was able to gain some muscle pre T but not a huge amount (like Jessica said need T for that). Used that time to lose the weight and get toned. I do a lot of the same exercises now as I did before T, but I tended to do what would probably be considered a men's work out. Now I simply do more weight and less reps. You can move up in weight pretty quickly once you go on T. I did have a hard time at the beginning as I all I wanted to do was sleep but am getting into the swing of things. I really like the Lat pull down and pull ups, they are great.
Cheers, Myles
also not the resident gym rat

Quote from: Alex_C on October 14, 2009, 02:00:10 PM
Jessica knows her stuff.

T is a steroid, we're just going to the level of normal guys not the excessive levels the bodybuilders use. For instance I'm on 100mg of T a week, the bb's will take that a DAY.

Just look at workouts for teenage boys or recommended for men in general. I learn a lot watching the guys in my gym too.

I was speaking more for women on the roid part. Not ftms.

Oh and there are some roided up women out there too!

Quote from: Alex_C on October 14, 2009, 06:39:40 PM
Oh and there are some roided up women out there too!

Oh, I agree. But there are natural ones too. It just takes a lot longer.

Yup the weight i have been able to lift since being on T has gone up very quickly, and yes less reps and more weights is the best way to gain bulk- ie: training to failure, and remember muscles need time to regenerate between workouts, this is what helps them grow, so plenty of sleep and protein is good, and BREAKS between workouts. I generally find that about a week after i can see the gains from the week before. My arms and torso (and butt wooo hooo) have got noticeably leaner and i have only been on T for 2 months. Cardio is great too,dont discount it, things like the rowing machine are great for building muscle while shedding fat, especially interval training.  :)

The rowing machine is SO great, I wish my gym had a concept )(

cool i just did some of these neck exercises, I can feel the burn :)

I'm gonna add these to my workouts

oh and for the 'shrug' work outs.. is it really just holding weights limply at your sides, and literally shurgging?

Yes shrugs are just that, shrugging with weights.

Quote from: alex k on October 14, 2009, 04:35:14 AMI was being serious honest, I'm so fed up of going to the gym telling the instuctors that i want to gain muscle as in big muscle and being given exercises that tone you up rather than building anything cos obviously women don't want big muscles!!!

See, I'd rather tone up.  I was on the weight team in high school (yay for "no sex discrimination in activities" policies), and I'm tired of being thick.  Toned looks better in suits; "thick" looks better in... actually, I'm at a loss here.  I can't think of anything that looks good over large muscles.  Speedos?  Hell if I know.

NO ONE here has large enough muscles to make clothes look odd.

if by thick you mean padded lol. well, you can lose that.

I don't necessarily mean "padded" -- I mean that my legs look like those on the paintings of athletes on old Grecian vases, and I don't like the way suit trou look on thick legs.

Slender and lightly toned (think more James Dean (http://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2008/04/james_dean_shirtless.jpg) than young Paul Newman (http://sylviagarza.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/paul-newman.jpg) or Jamie Bamber) is what I think looks best for men.  Not to say that a young Newman or Bamber are unattractive blokes, I just think they look better with less clothes than with more.  And I don't mean that necessarily in a pervy way; I mean that obvious musculature looks better when one can see it.  But I prefer men in suits (serious, it's a borderline paraphilia for me), and it just makes no sense to cover up well-crafted musculature with all that clothing -- in part cos I think all that extra clothing creates the illusion of a stockier physique.

I'm not expecting this to make much sense to anybody else here -- I just think that different... "physique goals" shouldn't be discouraged with such phraseology as "less like men".  Anyway, I have a rather short neck (like Dean, but no-where near as good-looking as him, if you ask me), so building up the surrounding musculature would, in my opinion, make my head look like a butt-plug (I wish I had a better way to say that).